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Catalogues.
There are three ancient catalogues, written before the Council of Nice. The first goes
back to about the time of the death of John. The second, to the beginning of the third
century, the last to the beginning of the fourth. The first is derived from the ancient
Syriac version of the N.T. called the Peshitto, or "Simple". The second is supplied by
Origen. The third by Eusebius in the third book of Ecclesiastical History.
The Peshitto version contains the whole of the N.T. except the Apocalypse, and the
later epistles of Jude, Peter and John. The arrangement of the sacred books is as found in
the N.T. today. The omitted books were written too late and at too great a distance for
inclusion.
Origen catalogue.
In a commentary alluding to the sounding of the trumpets and the walls of Jericho,
Origen makes an allegorical use of the books of the N.T. and enumerates without
exception the twenty-seven books of the Canon.
Eusebius.
This historian divides the N.T. into two parts. The homologomena, "The Scriptures
universally, unrestrictedly and uniformly recognized from the first as Divine by all
churches or ecclesiastical witness", and the Antilogomena, denotes books which, though
recognized by most churches or ecclesiastical witness, were not recognized by all such.
These are five in number: II Peter, James, Jude, II John and III John. "These though
publicly read experience some opposition or were less quoted by ancient witness."
The transmission and preservation of the Hebrew text.
"Some ancient authorities read." These words meet the student of Scripture both in
Commentaries and the margin of the R.V. What do they involve? To appreciate their
meaning we must be acquainted with the history of the Manuscripts, their transmission,
their preservation, their differences and their combined testimony.
The transmission of the Hebrew text.
Every book was of necessity written by hand, and the scribe was hedged about by
scruples and directions, which even though to modern minds are petti-fogging,
nevertheless preserved the text in a marvelous manner.
A synagogue scroll must be written on the skins of clean animals. The fastenings
must be sinews taken from clean animals. Every skin must contain a fixed number of
columns throughout the entire scroll. Each column must not be less than forty-eight or
more than sixty lines. The breadth must consist of thirty letters. The whole copy must be
first lined. If three words be written outside a line it is worthless. Black ink, prepared